Anarchy Online from E3
I figured that as my first post to the board, I would comment on some of the stuff about Anarchy Online that I saw today at E3. For those of you who haven't heard, there have been several versions of the beta recently, and what they demonstrated at E3 was version 11.0, and I have to say it was impressive. I spent about 15 minutes with Tommy Strand showing me and my buddy around the game and with us picking his brain, although I'm pretty sure he had no idea it was me...
Some of us, myself included, have been playing in the beta for some time. Allakhazam's review of AO from earlier in the week echoed my sentiments on the game up until today, and now I'm pretty excited about the release date (and praying that I get into the next beta phase).
There were several things about the game that were really incredible in its current form. First of all, the graphics were a lot faster, with rendering all the way out to the horizon in the playfields, so trees and rocks no longer "pop" when they get within range, as well as improved speed overall. The computers they were using were 800 MHz with GeForce2's running the graphics, and it just looked great.
They've also tweaked around the interface quite a bit, changed some of the icons, and it seems more responsive. All just kind of finishing touches.
The most incredible thing that Tommy showed us was the Grid, as it's called. He described it as being like the Matrix (not the movie, but the cyberpunk version). You travel to a Grid entrance point, and you enter a digital area that looks like a large blue chamber (this is gonna be hard to explain, I can tell right now). On the floor were openings that would take you from place to place. Basically, you could enter the Grid in Newland and travel across the room, and drop through to Tir or Athens and pop out there. So what's the difference between that and the whompas you ask?
Well here is where it gets really awesome. Above the floor is a crisscrossing network of bridges. As you become better at your skill with using the Grid, you enter up on these higher platforms, and doing so allows you access to exit points that are more and more remote. The highest platforms (and therefore the remotest areas) require a high level of skill to get access to. Most characters can only enter the Grid at specific Grid entry terminals which are found in most towns, but Fixers can enter the Grid anywhere they want to, and take their whole group with them.
The other really incredible thing that Tommy showed us were the vehicles (yes, they are now in the game). Basically you have a vehicle in your inventory (that's the weird part) and you equip it. You then become a vehicle, which ranges anywhere from silvery motorcycle things, to a carrier ship, to a really small scout ship about the size of a large pumpkin. You can then move around the game in these ships, many of which fly, and it is a bit safer and faster, although monsters with ranged attacks can and will still attack you. Some vehicles you can attack back with, some you can't.
Obviously I was overstimulated at the booth, but there's a little bit more. Turns out that they changed the way newbie areas worked. From what Tommy said, they're still planning on having 50,000 people in the world, but are very aware of the problems in newbie fields when that many people enter at once. Their solution to this is unique, which is that whenever you make your character, you are dropped into a newbie area that you and maybe two dozen other people share, and that's it. Others can't come into that area, so you are never fighting for kills or stuff like that. As more characters are made, they just make more newbie fields for you to play in. These all connect to the regular world areas as well, so you can escape and use those newbie areas if you so desire.
Overall, I must say that I was very impressed with the way the game now looks. If they've also fixed the stability issues that have plagued them recently, then AO will be the game to buy this summer.
Tags: AnarchyOnline, News